SBC 5-yrs Overdue Accounts: MAZARS Update
Regular readers will be aware that Scarborough Borough Council’s accounts have not been signed off since the 2014/15 Council financial year.
The prime cause of this five-year delay rests with the legal action brought by the Fight 4 Whitby group against the Council over Whitby Harbour revenues which, the group contends, should have been ring-fenced for re-investment in Whitby Harbour. Said revenues were instead ‘absorbed’ into the Council’s General Fund.
On Wednesday 15th July 2020, external auditors MAZARS released the following interim Audit Progress bulletin:
(It is disappointing to note that local government specialist MAZARS refers (at that third last bullet point) to the Local Government Act 1974. In fact, the relevant legislation is, by its correct title, the Local Government Act 1972, which only came into force on 1st April 1974).
Whitby Town Councillors have reported to the Enquirer that, after a meeting on Tuesday 14th January 2020, visiting SBC s.101 Officer and Finance Director Mr Nick EDWARDS described the Fight 4 Whitby challenge as having been satisfactorily resolved.
The above MAZARS progress report suggests otherwise . . .
For more information, please visit the Fight 4 Whitby website:
Comments are closed.